The DVA Coordinated Veterans' Care (CVC) program pays your usual GP to plan and coordinate your care for chronic health conditions, with a care coordinator, usually a practice nurse, keeping in regular contact with you. The aim is to keep you well and reduce the risk of unplanned hospital stays. It's open to Gold Card holders with one or more chronic conditions and to White Card holders with a chronic mental health condition DVA has accepted. There's no cost to you for the coordination.
Who can join the CVC program
You need to hold one of these:
- a Veteran Card – All Conditions (Gold Card) and one or more chronic health conditions
- a Veteran Card – Specific Conditions (White Card) and one or more chronic mental health conditions that DVA has accepted as related to your service
Having a White Card doesn't by itself mean you have an accepted mental health condition. You can check your accepted conditions in MyService, or your GP can check with DVA.
You also need to:
- be an Australian resident living in Australia
- live in the community rather than in residential aged care
- be at risk of unplanned hospitalisation and have complex care needs, as assessed by your GP
- agree to take part and to a care plan developed with your GP
DVA's notes for providers describe complex care needs as things like several conditions that complicate treatment, an unstable condition, frailty, age or social isolation affecting your health, or difficulty managing and monitoring your own health. These usually mean you need several care providers, a complex medication regime or frequent monitoring.
Who can't join
You can't enrol if you:
- are in the Transition Care Program after a hospital stay (you may be able to join once it ends)
- live permanently in residential aged care (short-term respite doesn't count)
- have a condition your GP expects to be terminal within 12 months
The terminal condition rule applies only when you first enrol, not to a diagnosis made after you've joined. If you aren't eligible, you may still get free mental health treatment through non-liability health care.
How the CVC program works
- Ask your usual GP whether CVC would help you. Any GP can provide the program, and it's delivered by the GP who provides most of your care. If you don't have a usual GP, check that a practice accepts Veteran Cards before you book.
- Your GP checks your eligibility and explains the program, including that your health information and care plan will be shared with your care team. You give your consent.
- Your GP, your care coordinator and you develop a comprehensive care plan at a face-to-face appointment at the practice or, if your GP does home visits, at your home. It can't be done by telehealth.
- You sign the care plan, which enrols you. You should get a copy.
- Your care coordinator manages the plan day to day under your GP's supervision.
- Care runs in 90-day periods. At the end of each period, your GP reviews your plan and eligibility with you in person.
You stay in the program as long as you remain eligible and benefit from it.
What's in a CVC care plan
The plan reflects your own goals and priorities. It includes:
- a summary of your chronic conditions and health needs
- your current treatment
- the other health professionals in your care team and their contact details
- agreed goals and actions for you
- how treatment and services will be coordinated
- when and how the plan will be reviewed
Your care team might include specialists such as a cardiologist, a pharmacist, a physiotherapist or mental health professionals.
What your care coordinator does
Your care coordinator is usually a practice nurse. If your GP doesn't have one, a DVA-contracted community nursing provider can do it, working from a written GP referral and reporting to your GP each month. An Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander primary health worker, or your GP, can also be the coordinator. Depending on your needs, the coordinator may:
- keep in regular contact, face to face and sometimes by phone
- remind you about appointments and help you make them
- help you understand and manage your health
- pick up emerging problems early
- communicate with the other health professionals in your care team
What CVC costs and what it doesn't cover
Care coordination is free. DVA pays your GP for the initial assessment and for each completed 90-day period of care, and your GP can still bill DVA for your other consultations, including a GP chronic condition management plan.
Enrolling in CVC doesn't give you access to any extra medicines or treatment. Treatment in your plan is paid for under your usual card entitlements. If you have a White Card, you may need to pay for treatment in your plan that isn't for an accepted condition and isn't covered by non-liability health care or PAMT.
Changing GP
If you change GP, or your GP moves or retires, your new GP can take over your CVC care. Your coordinator can also change between a practice nurse and a community nurse if you and your GP decide that would work better.
Read DVA's CVC information for veterans
Rules that are easy to miss
One thing CVC can add: if your GP thinks you're socially isolated and that this puts you at risk of ending up in hospital, they can refer you to the Veterans' Home Care assessment agency for a social support service to help you build social contact. The agency decides what you get and how often, and a VHC provider delivers it.
Common questions
Are there costs involved?
No. DVA funds your GP for the coordination, so you don't pay for it. Treatment itself is covered by your Veteran Card in the usual way.
How do I join the DVA CVC program?
Talk to your usual GP. GPs assess and enrol patients, so there's no application to DVA. For questions about the program, call DVA on 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372) or email [email protected].
Can I join CVC with a White Card?
Only if DVA has accepted a mental health condition that is chronic. White Card holders without an accepted mental health condition aren't eligible.
Checked against DVA's website on 25 September 2026.